CHANGCHUN, Northeast China, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- South Korea dispatched its strongest short-track speedskating team to the 6th Asian Winter Games, but team manager Chai Kwan-Kook declined to reveal their gold medal goal here on Friday.

    Leading by Olympic gold medallists Ahn Hyun-Soo and Jin Sun-Yu, the South Korean team is considered as the strongest at the Winter Asiad to be run from January 28th to February 4th.

    Manager Chai admitted that he has brought the best skaters to Changchun but dissimulated while being asked of their aim at the Winter Asiad.

    To field the question of "how many golds are you targetting for in Changchun?", Chai counted his fingers and said "there are 10 golds in short track events. Five from the men's and the other five from women's events."

    For an instant follow-up "I want to know how many golds South Korean want to catch", Chai seemed bewildered by the question and just said "What", "What do you mean", "I don't know" again and again.

    Then, a volunteer betrayed Chai, saying the Korean manager is good at English. But when he himself asked the same question, the professor from Dongguk University smilingly replied "Sorry! I don't know what do you mean."

    South Korean short track skaters showed their dominance by sweeping six of the eight golds at the Turin Winter Olympic Games last year.

    But no skater showed up at the flag-raising ceremony for the Winter Asiad as all of them went for training this morning.

    Seven curling players and 14 officials represented the 164-member delegation at the ceremony. Bae Chang-Whan, chef-de-mission of the South Korean delegation revealed that they expect to notch up 10 to 12 golds at the Winter Asiad.

    South Korea grabbed 10 golds at the last Asian Winter Games in Aomori where host Japan topped the medals table with 24 golds.

    And Japan set a target of 10 to 15 golds in Changchun, said Toshiaki Murasato, chef-de-mission of the Japanese delegation which arrived here on Thursday.